The stories behind the science

From the Channel

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Ingenium Channel is a digital hub featuring curated content related to science, technology and innovation.

A young man wearing a mask stands at a table, with two cedar boxes stacked in front of him. He is using a garden trowel to dig in a soil-like mixture inside the top box. Pieces of wood and an electric saw are visible in the workshop behind him.
3 m
Article
Earth & Environment
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The Box of Life: Grow a gorgeous garden with one of nature’s superheroes

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Apr 22, 2021
Looking to grow a gorgeous garden? Try vermicomposting for tangible results!
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin and Charles Augustus Lindbergh. The caption of these photographs mentions the striking resemblance between these important people in the world of astronautics and aeronautics. Anon., “Lancement du premier homme dans l’espace – Comment se sont déroulés les événements en Union soviétique.” La Tribune, 13 April 1961, 24.
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Space
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That was also one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind: The flight into space of Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin in the French language press of Québec, 12-15 April 1961, Part 2

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Apr 18, 2021
Welcome aboard, my reading friend. I hope you will like this second part of our article on Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin’s space flight as seen in the French-speaking Québec press in April 1961. Would you believe that the editorial writers of some major Québec dailies commented on the flight of the first Homo sapiens to travel in space? If you have no objection, let us start with the one which appeared in the 13 April issue of La Presse, a major daily in Montréal, Québec. The text written by a
Major Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin during his visit to Helsinki, Finland, July 1961. Wikimedia.
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Space
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That was also one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind: The flight into space of Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin in the French language press of Québec, 12-15 April 1961, Part 1

Profile picture for user rfortier
Apr 11, 2021
Do you love birthdays, my reading friend? Our species seems fascinated by the commemoration of birthdays. Six examples from the world of aeronautics and astronautics will suffice to demonstrate my point On 12 April 1911, 110 years ago, Frenchman Pierre Prier made the first non-stop flight between London and Paris. This United Kingdom-France flight took just under 4 hours. On 12 April 1921, 100 years ago, an airliner of the Compagnie franco-roumaine de navigation aérienne landed at Le Bourget
A black-and-white photograph showing a crowd gathered on the ground below the R-100, a massive blimp-like airship, tied to the top of a tall tower that looks like a lighthouse.
4 m
Article
Aviation
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It’s a bird, it’s a plane…it was a massive rigid airship called the R-100

Profile picture for user Kristy von Moos
Apr 8, 2021
In August 1930, all eyes were on Saint-Hubert, Quebec, as people waited for the arrival of a massive, rigid airship named the R-100.
Three women are visible in separate windows in a virtual meeting screen.
4 m
Article
Library and Archives
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Coffee, cats, and metadata: Archivists working from home

Profile picture for user Adele Torrance
Apr 7, 2021
The past year has been anything but typical. Staff at Ingenium’s Library and Archives have focused less on the physical and more on the digital/virtual — thanks to COVID-19 restrictions and staff mostly working from home.
A close-up view of the latch of an old, wooden, graffiti-marked door.
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Article
Mining and Metallurgy
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A door to the past: Inscriptions offer a glimpse into Canada’s mining history

Profile picture for user Rebecca Dolgoy
Apr 6, 2021
What can graffiti teach us about the past? A door that once stood inside an Ontario mine is covered in layers of inscriptions, detailing the thoughts of the miners who worked there.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio host Claire Wallace interviewing Trans-Canada Air Lines interior accommodation engineer Diana Jocelyn Dudley, January 1946. Anon. “Air Transportation – Radio Broadcast over Niagara.” Canadian Transportation, April 1946, 200.
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Arts & Design
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No place for a lady?! Balderdash!: Trans-Canada Air Lines’ first interior accommodation engineers, Diana Jocelyn Dudley and Janet Elizabeth Lowe

Profile picture for user rfortier
Apr 4, 2021
Greetings, my slightly masochistic reading friend, and welcome to the wonderful world of aeronautics and astronautics. This week’s episode of our amazing blog / bulletin / thingee will touch upon an aspect of the air transportation which, like the great American stand-up comic Rodney Dangerfield, to use the stage name of Jack Roy, born Jacob Rodney Cohen, a gentleman mentioned in May and December 2020 issues of that same online publication, may not get the respect it deserves. Let us begin at
Three images side by side, erosion rills in a field, venus, and a black-footed ferret,
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Article
Agriculture
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3 things you should know about soil, Venus, and the black-footed ferret

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2
Apr 1, 2021
For the April edition, we dig into soil erosion, our nearest planetary neighbor, Venus, and the plight of the black-footed ferret.
Peter Müller at the controls [sic] of the Pedroplan, Berlin, Germany, March 1931. Anon., “Cologne contre Marseille – Le mystère du ‘Pédroplan.’ [sic]” Les Ailes, 2 April 1931, 14.
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Aviation
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I want to fly my bicycle, I want to fly my kite: Peter Müller and the Pedroplan

Profile picture for user rfortier
Apr 1, 2021
Hallo, kamarade. Wie gehts? Ich werde heute über ein sehr interessantes Thema sprechen, und… What’s wrong with you, my reading friend? You seem very puzzled. Ahh, apologies. Let us start anew. Hello, comrade. How are you? I am going to pontificate on a very interesting subject today. Ninety years ago today, a German weekly magazine, Kölnische Illustrierte Zeitung, I think, unless it was a German daily, Kölnische Zeitung, both from Köln / Cologne anyway, published a most interesting 3-page
The Phillips Saucercraft hovercraft, Mount Hope, Ontario. Anon., “Flying saucer crack-up”. The Calgary Herald, 2 March 1961, 1.
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Aviation
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A most intriguing INFO (Identified Non Flying Object): The Phillips Saucercraft hovercraft

Profile picture for user rfortier
Mar 28, 2021
As you may well imagine, the wonderful world of aeronautics and astronautics is chock full of wonderful flying machines. A surprisingly high number of these wonderful vehicles are, well, not very well known. While it is true that that this unfortunate lack of information plagued, plagues and will plague flying machines devised before 1914 and the start of the First World War, the fact is that some fairly recent aerial vehicles are not well documented. One of these would be a fine topic for our
Dr. Ann Elizabeth Noelle Grace tending to one of her patients, Montreal General Hospital, Montréal, Québec. Claude Adams, “An eye-opener for our reporter – Team of women doctors shatters Ben Casey myth.” The Gazette, 3 March 1971, 31.
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Medicine
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Shattering the Ben Casey and James Kildare myth: Canada’s first female pediatric surgeon, Dr. Ann Elizabeth Noelle Grace

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Mar 21, 2021
The medical profession is undoubtedly one of the most popular with creators of television series. Over the years and decades, fictional doctors have proven and are proving to be unorthodox, surly, skilled, sensitive, respectful, respected, reserved, quirky, patient, outspoken, neurotic, narcissistic, naïve, mischievous, misanthropic, loyal, kind, intense, idealistic, flawed, fearless, devoted, determined, dedicated, cynical, curmudgeonly, cool, compassionate, collected, charming, charismatic
An apple with green skin is cut in half against a white background. Of the exposed apple, half of the face is white, the other is brown.
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Article
Agriculture
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Everyday science: Why do cut apples turn brown?

Profile picture for user Renée-Claude Goulet
Mar 18, 2021
If you’ve ever wondered why that happens — and if there’s anything you can do to stop it — you’ve come to the right place! Let’s dive into the everyday science of why cut apples turn brown.
An advertisement from Langlais & Frère Incorporée of Québec, Québec, extolling the merits of the Zetor 25 tractor. Anon. “Advertising – Langlais & Frère Incorporée.” L’Action catholique, 3 March 1951, 14.
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Agriculture
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They shall beat their swords into plowshares; or, A brief look at the Czech state-owned firm Zbrojovka Brno Národní Podnik

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Mar 14, 2021
Yours truly must admit that I racked my brains to find an agricultural topic for this issue of our blog / bulletin / thingee. The grayness which affects our little corner of the Milky Way is getting a bit heavy. This being said (typed?), I think I found a little something in the 3 March 1951 issue of the daily L’Action catholique from Québec, Québec, which might intrigue you a bit. Our story began in February 1872 with the creation, in Brünn, Austro-Hungarian Empire, of Erste Brünner Maschinen